IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v15y2025i14p1466-d1697311.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does the Improvement of Farmers’ Digital Literacy Restrain Their Opportunistic Behavior When They Choose Pest Control Methods in Certified Agro-Products?

Author

Listed:
  • Xiujuan Cui

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Jieyu Yang

    (College of Finance and Economics, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China)

  • Ziqian Fan

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

  • Yongqiang Wang

    (College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China)

Abstract

Information asymmetry leads to farmers’ opportunistic behavior of disobeying pest control regulations in certified vegetable areas, but the improvement of farmers’ digital literacy has become an important means to break through the constrained dilemma of pest control information and change farmers’ pest control behaviors. Based on survey data from certified vegetable areas of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Ningxia provinces in China, this study used Heckman two-stage model to analyze the impact of the improvement of farmers’ digital literacy on opportunistic behavior in pest control. The results are as follows. Firstly, the improvement of farmers’ digital literacy can restrain their opportunistic behavior in pest control. Secondly, the improvement of farmers’ digital literacy restrain their opportunistic behavior through three paths, namely, enhancing the awareness of obeying pest control regulations for certified vegetables, reducing the cost and risk of pest control in obeying the certification standards. Thirdly, the traceable certification label plays a positive moderating role in the process of improving digital literacy to restrain farmers’ opportunistic behavior. Accordingly, this study suggests strengthening the training of farmers’ digital literacy, promoting the digitalized traceability system for certified vegetables, establishing examination mechanisms for online pesticide purchases and logistics distribution, and imposing severe penalties for opportunistic behaviors.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiujuan Cui & Jieyu Yang & Ziqian Fan & Yongqiang Wang, 2025. "Does the Improvement of Farmers’ Digital Literacy Restrain Their Opportunistic Behavior When They Choose Pest Control Methods in Certified Agro-Products?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-28, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:15:y:2025:i:14:p:1466-:d:1697311
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/14/1466/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/14/1466/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shanshan Li & Shengyang Sun & Chao Zhang, 2024. "Internet-Based Information Acquisition, Technical Knowledge and Farmers’ Pesticide Use: Evidence from Rice Production in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Haoyuan Liu & Zhe Chen & Suyue Wen & Jizhou Zhang & Xianli Xia, 2025. "Impact of Digital Literacy on Farmers’ Adoption Behaviors of Green Production Technologies," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-23, January.
    3. Qingyun Bai & Haipeng Chen & Jie Zhou & Guohong Li & Dundang Zang & Yaya Sow & Qianling Shen, 2023. "Digital literacy and farmers’ entrepreneurial behavior—Empirical analysis based on CHFS2019 micro data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(7), pages 1-19, July.
    4. Hildegard Garming & Hermann Waibel, 2009. "Pesticides and farmer health in Nicaragua: a willingness-to-pay approach to evaluation," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 10(2), pages 125-133, May.
    5. Charles F. Manski, 2000. "Economic Analysis of Social Interactions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 115-136, Summer.
    6. Pritika Reddy & Bibhya Sharma & Kaylash Chaudhary, 2020. "Digital Literacy: A Review of Literature," International Journal of Technoethics (IJT), IGI Global Scientific Publishing, vol. 11(2), pages 65-94, July.
    7. Miguel Hernández‐Espallardo & Narciso Arcas‐Lario & Jorge L. Sánchez‐Navarro & Gustavo Marcos‐Matás, 2022. "Curbing members' opportunism in first‐tier and federated agricultural marketing cooperatives," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(1), pages 195-219, January.
    8. Siyu Gong & Ziye Sun & Bo Wang & Zhigang Yu, 2024. "Could Digital Literacy Contribute to the Improvement of Green Production Efficiency in Agriculture?," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(1), pages 21582440241, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jiaxi Zhou & Guoxiong Zhao & Liuyang Yao, 2025. "Peer Effects and Rural Households’ Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-19, July.
    2. Hong Tang & Zhiyou Liu & Feng Huang, 2025. "Digital Literacy, Labor Force Characteristics and the Degree of Adoption of Agricultural Socialized Services: Empirical Evidence from Rural China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-19, September.
    3. Hammar, Henrik & Carlsson, Fredrik, 2001. "Smokers' Decisions To Quit Smoking," Working Papers in Economics 59, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    4. Ruomeng Cui & Dennis J. Zhang & Achal Bassamboo, 2019. "Learning from Inventory Availability Information: Evidence from Field Experiments on Amazon," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(3), pages 1216-1235, March.
    5. Gautier, Pieter & van Vuuren, Aico & Siegmann, Arjen, 2007. "The Effect of the Theo van Gogh Murder on House Prices in Amsterdam," CEPR Discussion Papers 6175, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Mekonnen, Daniel Ayalew & Gerber, Nicolas & Matz, Julia Anna, 2018. "Gendered Social Networks, Agricultural Innovations, and Farm Productivity in Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 321-335.
    7. Hilber, Christian A.L., 2010. "New housing supply and the dilution of social capital," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 419-437, May.
    8. Kiichi Tokuoka, 2017. "Is stock investment contagious among siblings?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1505-1528, June.
    9. Andersson, Fredrik W. & Bokenblom, Mattias & Brantingson, Staffan & Brännström, Susanne Gullberg & Wall, Johan, 2011. "Sick listing—Partly a family phenomenon?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 496-502.
    10. Feng, Yao, 2011. "Local spillovers and learning from neighbors: Evidence from durable adoptions in rural China," MPRA Paper 33924, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Fishman, Arthur & Fishman, Ram & Gneezy, Uri, 2019. "A tale of two food stands: Observational learning in the field," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 101-108.
    12. Amrei Lahno & Marta Serra-Garcia, 2015. "Peer effects in risk taking: Envy or conformity?," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 73-95, February.
    13. Steven N. Durlauf & Yannis M. Ioannides, 2010. "Social Interactions," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 2(1), pages 451-478, September.
    14. Asadullah, Niaz & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2012. "Going to School in Purdah: Female Schooling, Mobility Norms and Madrasas in Bangladesh," IZA Discussion Papers 7059, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Fang Li & Hongxu Ma & Suyan Shen, 2024. "Volunteering in China: How significant is the peer effect?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(3), pages 1848-1865, April.
    16. Adamopoulou, Effrosyni & Greenwood, Jeremy & Guner, Nezih & Kopecky, Karen, 2024. "The Role of Friends in the Opioid Epidemic," CEPR Discussion Papers 18803, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Benjamin Monnery, 2015. "The determinants of recidivism among ex-prisoners: a survival analysis on French data," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 37-56, February.
    18. Xiaogeng Xu & Satu Metsälampi & Michael Kirchler & Kaisa Kotakorpi & Peter Hans Matthews & Topi Miettinen, 2023. "Which income comparisons matter to people, and how? Evidence from a large field experiment," Working Papers 10, Finnish Centre of Excellence in Tax Systems Research.
    19. John Whalley, 2008. "Globalisation and Values," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(11), pages 1503-1524, November.
    20. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2006. "Environmental Morale and Motivation," CREMA Working Paper Series 2006-17, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:15:y:2025:i:14:p:1466-:d:1697311. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.